Whether the Weather

March is Music in Our Schools month. Many music educators, including me, have taken over the idea of March Madness brackets, usually referring to basketball. Instead, students and/or classroom teachers vote on a series of songs during the month of March, eliminating songs that don't make the cut.

This year, I adopted my plan from a music teacher who shared her 6/7 idea online, since that silly 6/7 saying is all the rage. I keep having students ask how tall my middle brother is, because they heard he's 6'7". If you're not familiar with the hand movement associated with the saying, count yourself lucky! I digress, so back to the subject at hand. I have a 60s and a 70s song paired. I play parts of the two tunes, and have the students vote on their favorite.

We started with 16 songs in total. I found that to be too many. With many classes, voting took up their entire music time, even with me playing only enough of each song for them to get the general flavor. It will be easier as songs are excluded each week. We'll vote again and again and eventually have a championship song. I'm looking forward to finding out what it is.

I was a bit surprised that all of the 60s songs were gone after the first week, especially I’m a Believer. After all, Smash Mouth covered it. I'm still learning after 39 years of teaching. One thing those years have taught me is to always be prepared, or over-prepared, if possible. That being the case, I have already chosen my March Music Madness songs for next school year. My theme, as you no doubt surmised from the title of this Vocal piece, is weather.

Living north of Phoenix, Arizona, where it can be hot any day of the year, and south of Flagstaff, where snow is expected every winter, the weather in my town of Cottonwood, can be almost anything throughout the winter. Snow is rare but happens. Freezing generally takes place at night anytime from November to March. But afternoons can be anything from freezing to upper 70s or even low 80s, Fahrenheit.

I have paired songs related to the weather for the students to listen to and vote on. Which songs would you vote for?

Keep in mind that, like my students, you don't have to feel obligated to watch and listen to every song in its entirety.

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These first two songs include the word "rain."

1. Blame It on the Rain by Milli Vanilli.

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2. Rain On Me by Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande.

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The next pair of songs include the word "storm."

3. Eye of the Storm by Ryan Stevenson.

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4. Storm in my Heart by Derek Rose.

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"Thunder" is a logical follow up to storm.

5. Thunderstruck by AC/DC.

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6. Next, Imagine Dragons performs Thunder.

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Here are two songs which include the word "snow."

7. Snowblind by Black Sabbath.

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8. Snow (Hey Oh) by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

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Next, I'm sharing two songs which include the word "Sun."

9. Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden.

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10. Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves.

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Finally, I'm including "hot," a word we're quite familiar with in Arizona!

11. Hot, hot, hot by Arrow.

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12. Hot N Cold by Katy Perry.

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Which songs, if any, struck your fancy? Do you have a clear winner in mind for yourself?

Compiling these songs was a labor of love, hours in the making. I tried to find songs that will be appropriate and fun for students.

With this year being my penultimate before retirement, I'm trying to plan lots of fun things for next school year. March Music Madness will be one such.

Thank you for reading.